andbews



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. ANDREWS, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO BURTONMALLORY, OF SAME PLACE.

MATCH-SAFE. I

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 15,554. dated December20, 1864.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, W. H. ANDREWS, of NewHaven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Match-Safes; and 1 do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of thesame, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and theletters of reference marked thereon, and which said drawings constitutepart of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a perspective view, and in Fig. 3 a (I'OSS-SGCtlOI].

My invention relates to an improvement in boxes such as are used forcontaining a supply of friction-matches, and commonly called matchsafes,whereby the box cannot, by any accident or carelessness, be left open,and is designed more particularly for use in manufietories, but isapplicable to all places and for all purposes of a similar nature.

To enable others to use my invention, I will proceed to fully describethe same as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

A is the box; 13, the lid, hinged to the box at c b. I prefer to formthe whole from castiron or other metal, and therefore illustrate a formeasily molded.

I extend the back side of the box up above the lid for the purpose ofsecuring the box to the wall or elsewhere, as required, by means of oneor more holes, 0. I form a projecting lip, c, on the lid, forconvenience in opening. Thus far my box does not materially differ fromordinary match-safes or similar boxes.

On the upper side of the lid, near the back edge, I form a projection,61, of sufficient height to strike the back of the box before the lidshall be raised to a perpendicular.

In Fig. 2 the operation of opening is illustrated in red. At thatposition the projection strikes the back, so that the lid cannot beraised higher. Consequently, when the hand which raised the lid isremoved the lid will fall ofits own weight, so that the box cannot, byany possibility, be left open to expose the contents of the box.

Having therefore fully described my invention, what I claim as new anduseful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A metallic box constructed and made selfclosing, as and for the purposedescribed.

WM. H. ANDREWS.

. Witnesses:

S. C. BABCOCK, JOHN E. IGARLE.

